Disappearing feeder



' April 14, 1936. R A. WAGSTAFF DISAPPEARING FEEDER 1930 2 sheet-sheet 1 o rigir lal Filed June 12,

DISAPPEARING FEEDER Original Filed June 12, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m m mm wm mm u n l m m w v, v E 5? V om J l NQE Patented Apr. 14, 1936 UNITED STATES 2,037,554 DISAPPEARING FEEDE Richard A. Wagstaif, Salt Lake City, Utah, .as-

signor to American Smelting and Refining Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 12, 1930, Serial No. 460,556 Renewed January 8 1934 3 Claims.

The-invention relates in general to the art of metallurgy, and more particularly to apparatus for feeding fines to a reverberatory smelting furnace.

The present invention represents an improvement in some respects over'the method and apparatus disclosed in Wagstaif, United States Letters Patent No. 1,822,944, dated September 15,

1931. According to the present invention a disappearing feeder is provided which is adapted to extend through the sidewall of a reverberatory furnace to a point just above the surface of the bath and preferably at an angle thereto. The dusty charge is introduced into the feeder from a point outside the furnace and it slides through the feeder by gravity into the furnace. The provision of feeding through the side wall of the furnace leaves the arch or roof of the furnace absolutely free and does not impair the strength thereof in any way. According to a preferred form the present invention utilizes a rack and pinion for introducing the extensible feeder into the furnace and for withdrawing it from the furnace. A coil of pipe, through which a cooling medium flows, may surround the part of the feeder which extends into the furnace to keep it cool and to prevent destruction thereof. If desired, the feeder may be made up of telescoping tubes, the material being fed into the upper tube from a suitable hopper.

Bythe use of the present invention the fine, dusty charges may be fed to a reverberatory or other smelting furnace in such manner that the charges immediately enter the bath and are not 'blown around in the inside of the furnace with the resultant destruction of the furnace walls. Ajny'number of tubes or feeders may be provided at different parts of the furnace and in any position to give the desired distribution of the charge to the furnace.

The inventionalso consists in certain new and original features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, as to its objects and advantages, the mode of its operation and the manner of its organization may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation partly in section of one form of apparatus according to the invention;

Fig.2 is an enlarged detail illustrating the telescoping tubes; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are sections taken on the lines 33 and 44, respectively, of Fig. 2.

In the following description and in the claims parts will be identified by specific names for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. I

Like reference characters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

'In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, a practical commercial embodiment of the invention is shown, but as such illustration is primarily for purposes of disclosure, it will be understood that the structure may be modified in various respects without departure from the broad spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Fig. 1, the furnace is denoted generally by I and may be any type of metallurgical furnace to which it is desired to feed dusty or other charges. A particular type of reverberatory furnace i s shown for purposes of illustration but of course other types of furnace may be used. The furnace comprises the usual walls 2 and arch roof 3, the side walls 2 having a plurality of openmg's' just below the roof, these openings being denoted by 4. It will be understood that these openings may be spaced along the length of the furnace :and, if desired, along both side walls. Aplurality of doors indicated by I I may be used for closing the charge openings 6. These doors may be water cooled by suitable means and may be raised vertically to open position. The upper surface of: the bath is denoted by l2 and the openings for theoil burners are denoted by ID.

Above the furnace is an upper lever or floor denoted by 6 supported by suitable structural members and having a pair of rails I. Betwen the rails 1 will be located a hopper 8 having a depending pipe 9 which connects with the inner tube of the extensible feeder.

It will be understood that a suitable car (not shownlicarrying the dusty charges runs on tracks 1, these cars having an opening in the bottom through whichthe charge is dropped into the hopper 8. It willbe understood that a suitable sealing arrangement may be provided to prevent loss of thedusty charges as they are dropped from the car into the hopper 8.

Located in line with the charge opening 4 is the disappearing feeder. The disappearing feeder comprises a stationary tube 20 disposed within a movabletube 2|. The movable tube 2| comprises an upper section 22 and a lower section 23 having a cooling coil 24 surrounding it. Suitable cement 25'or other material may be provided to connect the cooling coil 24. and lower section 23. Suitable flexible hoses 26 connect the cooling coil 24 with stationary pipes 21, one of which supplies cooling water and the other of which leads away the heated water. As indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, it will be noted that the cooling water supplied by flexible hose 26 is first led directly to the extreme lower end of the cooling coil 24. The water must then rise through the convolutions of the cooling coil 24 to the top where it is led out by the other flexible hose 26.

For operating the disappearing feeder, a pair of I-beams 3B are provided extending at an angle of, say, 35 with the horizontal and suitably supported by the framework. A pair of track members 3| are provided on the upper flanges of the I-beam and a pair of lower track members 32 are provided on the lower flanges of the I-beam on which the wheels 33 and 34 ride.

The wheels 33 and 34 are rotatably mounted on and support a suitable framework, parts of which are indicated by 38, 36 and 31. The parts 36 and 3'! are in the form of collars or clamps and support the upper section 22. A rack 39 is secured to the member 38 and meshes with a pinion 40 mounted on drive shaft 4! which is journaled in bearings 42 secured to the I-beams 30.

It will be understood that suitable driving means (not shown) is provided for rotating the shaft 4|. Suitable stop devices (not shown) are provided for limiting the upper and lower positions of the movable tube 2|.

For counter-balancing the movable tube a Weight 44 is provided connected by a strand of cable 46 to a member 43 secured to the movable tube. Suitable pulleys 45 are provided over which the cable 46 runs.

Normally the movable tube 2| occupies a retracted position out of the furnace and the charge door H is closed to prevent air leakage into the furnace. When it is desired to charge the furnace, the shaft M is rotated to feed the tube 2| into the furnace, after the door I I has been opened, to the position shown by the dot and dash lines in Fig. 1. In this position it will be noted the lower end of the tube is just above the surface of the bath l2 which is just below the lower edge of burner ports NJ. The tube is disposed at an angle to the surface of the bath and the dusty charge which is dropped into the hopper 8 drops through the pipe 9 and telescoping tubes 20 and 2| by gravity into the furnace. The velocity attained by the charge is suflicient to scatter it well over the surface of the bath in that particular part of the furnace without piling directly beneath the pipe. The material is fed in such quantitles that the charge substantially immediately enters the bath and the so-called dusting or blowing about of the charge within the furnace which is so detrimental to the furnace walls is almost entirely prevented. There is a minimum of free fall of the charge through the furnace and this takes place below the main draft through the furnace.

Thus it will be seen that apparatus for charging a reverberatory furnace with fines has been provided in which the charge can be introduced at any desired point and by which any desired distribution of the charge can be obtained. At the same time all undesired dusting or blowing of the dusty charge by the furnace gases is eliminated, resulting in the saving of the material which would ordinarily be wasted by being blown up the fine and also preventing the deposition of dust on the furnace brick work with the consequent reduction of the life of the furnace. Furthermore, the introduction of the disappearing feeder through the side walls allows the roof to be absolutely free of all obstructions and does not weaken it in any way. The apparatus for operating the feeder is simple and rugged and comparatively small power is required because the feeder is counter-weighted. Furthermore, the apparatus is of rugged construction, is easy to handle by workmen having no special skill, is not likely to get out of order and will give long and efficient service.

While certain novel features of the invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a furnace having a feed opening, a disappearing feeder device comprising pairs of inclined upper and lower tracks, a lower wheel and an upper wheel between each upper and lower track, a movable tube supported by said wheels and adapted to pass into the furnace through said opening, a stationary upper tube telescoping said movable tube and extending to a feed.

device, a rack movable with said movable tube, a pinion meshing said rack, means to rotate said pinion to feed said movable tube into and out of the furnace, and a counterweight connected to said movable tube to balance the same.

2. In a furnace having a feed opening, a disappearing feeder device comprising pairs of inclined upper and lower tracks, a lower wheel and an upper wheel between each upper and lower track, a framework in which said wheels are rotatably mounted, a rack on said framework, a pinion meshing said rack, a movable tube having an upper section carried by said framework and a lower section adapted to pass into the furnace through said opening, a coil of pipe around said lower section, flexible tubes connectedto said pipe to circulate cooling medium through said pipe, a stationary upper tube disposed within said movable tube and extending to a feed hopper, and means to rotate said pinion to feed said movable tube into and out of the furnace.

3. In a reverberatory furnace having an opening in its side wall above the surface of. the bath, a disappearing feeder device comprising a pair of inclined I-beams providing a pair of upper and lower tracks, a lower wheel and an upper wheel between each upper and lower track, a framework in which said wheels are rotatably mounted, a rack on said framework, a pinion journaled on said I-bearn meshing said rack, a movable tube having an upper section carried by said framework and a lower section adapted to pass into the furnace through said opening, a coil of. pipe around said lower section, flexible tubes connected to said pipe to circulate cooling medium 

